Youth Say It Loud: We're the Next AIDS Fighters!

When Anthony Roberts Jr. signed up for last year's Youth Action Institute, the Campaign to End AIDS' annual six-day youth education conference, he didn't know much about HIV. He just knew that he had to take action: Four of his friends -- a college roommate, two childhood pals and a high school buddy -- had recently revealed that they were living with HIV. "The issue had really hit home," Roberts said.

When he headed to Shreveport last week for his second YAI, he was no longer a newbie, but the conference's lead coordinator.

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Growing New Activists

The goal of the Youth Action Institute, which ended last Friday, is to turn out young AIDS leaders just like Roberts. Each year C2EA brings a gaggle of 14 to 26-year-olds to a college campus and teaches them to become the AIDS policy-makers and protest leaders of tomorrow.

While some of this year's 34 participants arrived with a bit of knowledge about AIDS, most were like Roberts was in 2009: inexperienced but eager to learn.

"They don't know [about HIV/AIDS issues] because they haven't been informed," said Roberts. For these participants, "YAI, it's almost like an 'Ah-ha!' moment."

Adult-supervised but youth-run, YAI seeks to educate and inspire a generation vulnerable to a disease they often know little about. Most participants did not grow up during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, when Americans were dying of the disease at alarming rates. However, the rate of young people diagnosed with HIV is rising, particularly among young black men who have sex with men.

"This conference is saying to young people, 'Yes, you do have a say, your opinions do count and you can make a different in eradicating HIV/AIDS,'" said Roberts.

Now in it's fifth year, there were several "firsts" at YAI 2010:

2010 marked the first bilingual YAI: A delegation of six youth from Puerto Rico learned how to bring AIDS activism back home. Those skills are badly needed: The island is plagued by mismanagement of Ryan White funds.

This was the first year that YAI participants made an official youth declaration, a document that delineates what the participants believe needs to be done to eradicate the spread of HIV.

For the first time, the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS invited YAI participants to make a statement during a telephone meeting. Youth leaders wrote and delivered a statement, and following the presentation, PACHA invited Roberts to meet with the council's chair in person in the coming weeks.

For the first time, "we were able to really use technology to our advantage, to maximize the experience" said Roberts. Shawn Decker, author of "My Pet Virus,:http://www.mypetvirus.com" couldn't make it to the conference -- so he skyped in to give a talk.

Gov. Bobby Jindal: "Step Up to Our Demands!"

The centerpiece project of YAI 2010 is a video proposed, filmed, edited and posted on Facebook by participants. The video hits on what is now perhaps the nation's most-pressing AIDS issue: The urgent need for state and federal governments to address huge funding shortfalls for AIDS Drugs Assistance Programs (ADAPs). With thousands sitting on wait lists for lifesaving drugs, the YAI team constructed a piece urging Louisiana's Gov. Bobby Jindal to restore ADAP funding to its 2008 levels. "Be the benevolent governor of the people and step up to our demands," the video concludes.

More About YAI

This article was provided by Housing Works. It is a part of the publication Housing Works AIDS Issues Update. Visit Housing Works' website to find out more about their activities, publications and services.

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